100 Best Submarines Books of All Time

We've ranked the best submarines books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

The Hunt for Red October (Movie Tie-In) book cover1

The Hunt for Red October (Movie Tie-In)

Tom Clancy

5.0
Don't Miss the Original Series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Starring John Krasinski!

The #1 New York Times bestseller that launched the phenomenal career of Tom Clancy--the gripping military thriller that introduced the world to his unforgettable hero, Jack Ryan.

Somewhere under the freezing Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision. The Red October is heading west. The Americans
Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage book cover2

Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage

Sherry Sontag

4.9
Originally published in 1998 and a best seller in its hardcover and paperback publications, Blind Man's Bulffis a dramatic, and riveting history. Over the course of five years, investigative reporters Sherry Sontag and Chris Drew interviewed hundreds of men who had never spoken about their underwater lives—not even to their wives and children. They uncovered a wealth of classified information: the
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania book cover3

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

Erik Larson

4.8
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania

On May 1, 1915, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were anxious. Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea book cover4

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Jules Verne, William O'Connor

4.8
Go 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Sterling's Illustrated Classics series, and see Jules Verne's fantastic water-world as never before: through more than 70 stunning steampunk images illustrated by the incredible William O'Connor. Originally published in 1870, Verne’s amazing adventure is one of the earliest sci-fi novels ever written—and one of the most popular. Come on board the Nautilus and p
Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II book cover5

Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II

Robert Kurson

4.8
In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery–and make history themselves.

For John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport. Testing themselves against treacherous currents, braving depths that induced
Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders book cover6

Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders

L. David Marquet

4.8
"Leadership should mean giving control rather than taking control and creating leaders rather than forging followers." David Marquet, an experienced Navy officer, was used to giving orders. As newly appointed captain of the USS Santa Fe, a nuclear-powered submarine, he was responsible for more than a hundred sailors, deep in the sea. In this high-stress environment, where there is no margin for er
7

Thunder Below!: The USS *Barb* Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II

Eugene B. Fluckey

4.6
The thunderous roar of exploding depth charges was a familiar and comforting sound to the crew members of the USS Barb, who frequently found themselves somewhere between enemy fire and Davy Jones's locker.

Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely si
Cryptonomicon book cover8

Cryptonomicon

Neal Stephenson

4.5
With this extraordinary first volume in an epoch-making masterpiece, Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century.

In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse—mathematical genius and young Captain in the U.S. Navy—is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a h
9

Submarine!

Edward L. Beach

4.5
Welcomed as the first book about American submarines in World War II to be written by a man who actually fought them, this compelling personal account of the war beneath the sea firmly established Edward L. Beach's reputation as a writer in the early 1950s. Given the survival rate of those in the silent service, it is a story many submariners did not live to tell. In fact, most of the crew of Beac
The War Below: The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan book cover10

The War Below: The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan

James Scott

4.5
“Beautifully researched and masterfully told” (Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of Escape from the Deep), this is the riveting story of the heroic and tragic US submarine force that helped win World War II in the Pacific.

Focusing on the unique stories of three of the war’s top submarines—Silversides, Drum, and Tang—The War Below vividly re-creates the camaraderie, exhilaration, and
11

The Terrible Hours

Peter Maas

4.5
On the eve of World War II, the Squalus, America's newest submarine, plunged to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Miraculously, thirty-three crew members still survived. While their loved ones waited in unbearable tension on shore, their ultimate fate would depend upon one man, U.S. Navy officer Charles "Swede" Momsen -- an extraordinary combination of visionary, scientist, and man of action. In t
12

Clear the Bridge!: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang

Richard O'Kane

4.4
Tang carried the war to the enemy with unparalleled ferocity. This is her story as told by her skipper.
13

Red Storm Rising

Tom Clancy

4.4
"Allah!"

With that shrill cry, three Muslim terrorists blow up a key Soviet oil complex, creating a critical oil shortage that threatens the stability of the USSR.

To offer the effects of this disaster, members of the Politburo and the KGB devise a brilliant plan of diplomatic trickery - a sequence of events designed to pit the NATO allies against each other - a distraction calculated to enable the

Red November: Inside the Secret U.S.-Soviet Submarine War book cover14

Red November: Inside the Secret U.S.-Soviet Submarine War

W. Craig Reed

4.4
“Red November delivers the real life feel and fears of submariners who risked their lives to keep the peace.”
—Steve Berry, author of The Paris Vendetta


W. Craig Reed, a former navy diver and fast-attack submariner, provides a riveting portrayal of the secret underwater struggle between the US and the USSR in Red November. A spellbinding true-life adventure in the bestselling tradition of Blind Man
15

Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan

Clay Blair Jr.

4.4
The long-awaited publication of Silent Victory fills a major gap in the annals of World War II. Here for the first time is the definitive history of the submarine war against Japan--the only full-scale submarine war the United States ever fought--which has for the most part been shrouded in secrecy for three decades. Only recently have the codebreakers who played such a pivotal role in the submari
16

U.S.S. Seawolf: Submarine Raider of the Pacific

Gerold Frank, James D. Horan, et al.

4.4

U.S.S. Seawolf: Submarine Raider of the Pacific, first published in 1946, is the story of one of the Navy's most successful submarine's operating in the Pacific during World War II. Told from the viewpoint of Chief Radioman Joseph Eckberg, The Wolf's adventures are related with a gripping realism...the heat, sweat, depth-charge attacks are all portrayed in vivid detail.

Seawolf departed Portsmouth,

17

Run Silent Run Deep

Edward L. Beach

4.4
An American equivalent of Das Boot, this gripping, bestselling novel of submarine warfare inspired a well-known Hollywood film starring Burt Lancaster and Clark Gable. Set in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the tension-filled story focuses on an American submarine captain given orders to destroy Japanese shipping in the Pacific. At first his missions go well, but when he takes on an i
The Taking of K-129: How the CIA Used Howard Hughes to Steal a Russian Sub in the Most Daring Covert Operation in History book cover18

The Taking of K-129: How the CIA Used Howard Hughes to Steal a Russian Sub in the Most Daring Covert Operation in History

Josh Dean

4.4
An incredible true tale of espionage and engineering set at the height of the Cold War—a mix between The Hunt for Red October and Argo—about how the CIA, the U.S. Navy, and a crazy billionaire spent six years and nearly a billion dollars to steal the nuclear-armed Soviet submarine K-129 after it had sunk to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean; all while the Russians were watching.

In the early hours of
19

State of Fear

Michael Crichton, George Wilson, et al

4.4
In Paris, a physicist dies after performing a laboratory experiment for a beautiful visitor. In the jungles of Malaysia, a mysterious buyer purchases deadly cavitation technology, built to his specifications. In Vancouver, a small research submarine is leased for use in the waters off New Guinea. And in Tokyo, an intelligence agent tries to understand what it all means. Thus begins Michael Crichto
20

The Grim Grotto (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #11)

Lemony Snicket, Brett Helquist, Michael Kupperman

4.3
Dear Reader,

Unless you are a slug, a sea anemone, or mildew, you probably prefer not to be damp. You might also prefer not to read this book, in which the Baudelaire siblings encounter an unpleasant amount of dampness as they descend into the depths of despair, underwater.

In fact, the horrors they encounter are too numerous to list, and you wouldn't want me even to mention the worst of it, which
Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship (Guided Tour) book cover21

Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship (Guided Tour)

Tom Clancy and John Gresham

4.3
Only the author of The Hunt for Red October could capture the reality of life aboard a nuclear submarine. Only a writer of Mr. Clancy's magnitude could obtain security clearance for information, diagrams, and photographs never before available to the public. Now, every civilian can enter this top secret world...the weapons, the procedures, the people themselves...the startling facts behind the fic
22

Escape from the Deep: The Epic Story of a Legendary Submarine and her Courageous Crew

Alex Kershaw

4.3
By October, 1944, the U.S. Navy submarine Tang was legendary-she had sunk more enemy ships, rescued more downed airmen, and pulled off more daring surface attacks than any other Allied submarine in the Pacific. And then, on her fifth patrol, tragedy struck-the Tang was hit by one of her own faulty torpedoes. The survivors of the explosion struggled to stay alive in their submerged “iron coffin” on
War Beneath The Sea book cover23

War Beneath The Sea

Peter Padfield

4.3
War Beneath the Sea
This is the first book to cover all submarine and anti-submarine operations of the major powers, U.S., British, German, Japanese and Italian in the Second World War. The canvas is broad and deep, from the strategic perspective at the top to the cramped and claustrophobic life of the crews in their submersible steel tubes; from the feats of ‘ace’ commanders to the terrifying expe
24

Silent Running

James F. Calvert

4.3
A riveting, tension-filled chronicle of life underwater by a much decorated hero who became the second youngest rear admiral in the history of the Navy. Filled with harrowing details of sinking Japanese vessels, surviving their assaults and capturing downed pilots. Culminates in Calvert's unauthorized visit, with three other officers, to Tokyo just prior to the official surrender--making them the
25

Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-boat Battles of World War II

Herbert A. Werner

4.3
The former German U-boat commander Herbert Werner navigates readers through the waters of World War II, recounting four years of the most significant and savage battles. By war's end, 28,000 out of 39,000 German sailors had disappeared beneath the waves.
One of Our Submarines (Pen & Sword Military Classics) book cover26

One of Our Submarines (Pen & Sword Military Classics)

Edward Young

4.3
In the very highest rank of books about the last war. Submarines are thrilling beasts, and Edward Young tells of four years' adventures in them in a good stout book with excitement on every page. He writes beautifully, economically and with humour, and in the actions he commands he manages to put the reader at the voice-pipe and the periscope so that sometimes the tension is so great that one has
Stalking the Red Bear: The True Story of A U.S. Cold War Submarine's Covert Operations Against the Soviet Union book cover27

Stalking the Red Bear: The True Story of A U.S. Cold War Submarine's Covert Operations Against the Soviet Union

Peter Sasgen

4.3
Thrilling submarine espionage and an inside look at the U.S. Navy's "silent service" "Stalking the Red Bear," for the first time ever, describes the action principally from the perspective of a commanding officer of a nuclear submarine during the Cold War--the one man aboard a sub who makes the critical decisions--taking readers closer to the Soviet target than any work on submarine espionage has
28

On the Beach

Nevil Shute

4.3
Nevil Shute’s most powerful novel—a bestseller for decades after its 1957 publication—is an unforgettable vision of a post-apocalyptic world.

After a nuclear World War III has destroyed most of the globe, the few remaining survivors in southern Australia await the radioactive cloud that is heading their way and bringing certain death to everyone in its path. Among them is an American submarine capt
29

Wahoo: The Patrols of America's Most Famous World War II Submarine

Richard H. O'Kane

4.3
The career of the USS Wahoo in sinking Japanese ships in the farthest reaches of the Empire is legendary in submarine circles.

Christened three months after Pearl Harbor, Wahoo was commanded by the astonishing Dudley W. "Mush" Morton, whose originality and daring new techniques led to results unprecedented in naval history; among them, successful "down the throat" barrage against an attacking Japan
30

Das Boot

Lothar-Günther Buchheim

4.3
It is autumn, 1941, and a German U-boat commander and his crew set out on yet another hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. Over the coming weeks they must brave the stormy waters of the Atlantic in their mission to seek out and destroy British supply ships. But the tide is beginning to turn against the Germans in the war for the North Atlantic. Their targets now travel in convoys, fierc
31

A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy

Robert Moore

4.2
On a quiet Saturday morning in August 2000, two explosions--one so massive it was detected by seismologists around the world--shot through the shallow Arctic waters of the Barents Sea. Russia’s prized submarine, the Kursk, began her fatal plunge to the ocean floor.

Award-winning journalist Robert Moore presents a riveting, brilliantly researched account of the deadliest submarine disaster in histo
The Death of the USS Thresher: The Story Behind History's Deadliest Submarine Disaster book cover32

The Death of the USS Thresher: The Story Behind History's Deadliest Submarine Disaster

Norman Polmar

4.2
A must-read for submarine buffs! On the morning of April 10, 1963, the world's most advanced submarine was on a test dive off the New England coast when she sent a message to a support ship a thousand feet above her on the surface: experiencing minor problem . . . have positive angle . . . attempting to blow . . . . Then came the sounds of air under pressure and a garbled message: . . . test depth
33

Ice Station Zebra

Alistair MacLean

4.2
Under the Polar Ice-Cap ....

The atomic submarine 'Dolphin' has impossible orders: to sail beneath the ice-floes of the Arctic Ocean to locate and rescue the men of weather-station Zebra, gutted by fire and drifting with the ice-pack somewhere north of the Arctic Circle.

But the orders do not say what the 'Dolphin' will find if she succeeds – that the fire at Ice Station Zebra was sabotage, and that
34

Sink 'Em All: Submarine Warfare in the Pacific

Charles A. Lockwoo

4.2
35

Papa's Mechanical Fish

Candace Fleming, Boris Kulikov

4.2
Clink! Clankety-bang! Thump-whirr! That's the sound of Papa at work. Although he is an inventor, he has never made anything that works perfectly, and that's because he hasn't yet found a truly fantastic idea. But when he takes his family fishing on Lake Michigan, his daughter Virena asks, "Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a fish?"—and Papa is off to his workshop. With a lot of persisten
36

Undersea Warrior: The World War II Story of "Mush" Morton and the USS Wahoo

Don Keith

4.2
No man above or below the waves was as admired-or feared-as this determined naval commander...

Among submariners in World War II, Dudley "Mush" Morton stood out as a warrior without peer. At the helm of the USS Wahoo he completely changed the way the sea war was fought in the Pacific. He would relentlessly attack the Japanese at every opportunity, going through his supply of torpedoes in record ti
37

Pacific Vortex! (Dirk Pitt, #1)

Clive Cussler

4.2
Dirk Pitt, death-defying adventurer and deep-sea expert, is out to the ultimate test as he plunges into the perilous waters of the Pacific Vortex -- a fog-shrouded sea zone where dozens of ships have vanished without a trace. The latest victim is the awesome superb Starbuck, America's deep-diving nuclear arsenal. Its loss poses an unthinkable threat to national defense. Pitt's job is to find it, s
38

The Ice Diaries: The True Story of One of Mankind's Greatest Adventures

William R. Anderson

4.2
The greatest undersea adventure of the 20th century.


The Ice Diaries tells the incredible true story of Captain William R. Anderson and his crew's harrowing top-secret mission aboard the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine. Bristling with newly classified, never-before-published information and photos from the captain's personal collection, The Ice Diaries takes readers on a d
39

Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines, 1945-2001

Norman Polmar and K. J. Moore

4.2
Submarines had a vital, if often unheralded, role in the superpower navies during the Cold War. Their crews carried out intelligence-collection operations, sought out and stood ready to destroy opposing submarines, and, from the early 1960s, threatened missile attacks on their adversary’s homeland, providing in many respects the most survivable nuclear deterrent of the Cold War. For both East and
40

Red Star Rogue: The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine's Nuclear Strike Attempt on the U.S.

Kenneth Sewell, Clint Richmond

4.2
One of the great secrets of the Cold War, hidden for decades, is revealed at last.
Early in 1968 a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine sank in the waters off Hawaii, hundreds of miles closer to American shores than it should have been. Compelling evidence, assembled here for the first time, strongly suggests that the sub, K-129, sank while attempting to fire a nuclear missile, most likely at the naval
Around the World Submerged: The Voyage of the Triton book cover41

Around the World Submerged: The Voyage of the Triton

Edward L. Beach

4.2
When the nuclear-powered submarine USS Triton was commissioned in November 1959, its commanding officer, Captain Edward L. Beach, planned a routine shakedown cruise in the North Atlantic. Two weeks before the scheduled cruise, however, Beach was summoned to Washington and told of the immediate necessity to prove the reliability of the Rickover-conceived submarine. His new secret orders were to tak
42

Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man

Lynn Vincent

4.2
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “GRIPPING…THIS YARN HAS IT ALL.” —USA TODAY • “A WONDERFUL BOOK.” —Christian Science Monitor • “ENTHRALLING.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) • “A MUST-READ.” —Booklist (starred review)

A human drama unlike any other—the riveting and definitive full story of the worst sea disaster in United States naval history.

Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapoli
43

Black Wind (Dirk Pitt, #18)

Clive Cussler, Dirk Cussler

4.1
Dirk Pitt teams up with his children to find two WWII Japanese subs that went down armed with a devastating payload: a new biological virus.
P-8A Poseidon: The US Navy’s Newest Maritime Patrol & Antisubmarine Aircraft (Legends of Warfare: Aviation, 29) book cover44

P-8A Poseidon: The US Navy’s Newest Maritime Patrol & Antisubmarine Aircraft (Legends of Warfare: Aviation, 29)

John Gourley

4.1

The P-8A Poseidon, a variant of the Boeing 737 series of airliner, takes over the role of antisubmarine warfare from the P-3 Orion, itself a derivative of an airliner, the Lockheed Electra. The P-8A brings new capabilities, endurance, and crew enhancements to the art form of maritime patrol, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The Poseidon also brings with it weapons such as antiship missiles, mines

Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies: 1946–2026 book cover45

Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies: 1946–2026

Norman Polmar

4.1

This is the definitive history of the Russian submarine program since WWII. Submarines emerged as a particularly terrifying weapon after WWII, in no small part through the application of nuclear propulsion and the development of shipborne nuclear missiles. The Soviet Union invested huge funding into a world-class submarine program, producing innovative designs in imposing numbers. Norman Polmar is

46

War in the Boats (H)

William J. Ruhe

4.1
Submarine duty in World War II took the lives of more than 20 percent of U.S. submariners. As a young ensign, William J. Ruhe kept a journal on eight action-filled patrols in the South Pacific. His colorful memoir has earned a place with the best naval fiction, among such books as Run Silent, Run Deep and The Hunt for Red October.
47

The Bravest Man: Richard O'Kane and the Amazing Submarine Adventures of the USS Tang

William Tuohy

4.1
“There’s no margin for mistakes in submarines. You’re either alive or dead.”
–Richard O’Kane

Hailed as the ace of aces, captain Richard O’Kane, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his consummate skill and heroism as a submarine skipper, sank more enemy ships and saved more downed fliers than anyone else.

Now Pulitzer Prize—winning author William Tuohy captures all the danger, the terror, a
48

Final Patrol: True Stories of World War II Submarines

Don Keith

4.1
During World War II, the U.S. Navy's submarine service suffered the highest casualty percentage of all the American armed forces, losing one in five submariners. But despite the odds, these underwater warriors accounted for almost 60 percent of Japanese shipping losses, and were a major factor in winning the war. 16 U.S. submarines - and one German U-Boat - that saw action during WWII are now open
49

The Silent War: The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea

John Pina Craven

4.1
Packed with the technological details and insights into military strategy that fans of Tom Clancy relish, The Silent War is a riveting look at the darkest days of the Cold War. It reveals, in gripping detail, the espionage, innovative high technology, and heroic seafaring the United States employed against the Soviet Union in the battle for nuclear and military supremacy. John Pi?a Craven, who sha
50

Submarines Coloring Book 1 (Volume 1)

Nick Snels

4.1
51

Super Submarines

Tony Mitton and Ant Parker

4.1
Explore an underwater world with Rabbit, Bird, and Mouse in this marine adventure all about submarines. Zippy wordplay, zappy art, plus a visual dictionary, make this title a must have for bookshelves everywhere.

Available for the first time in paperback, this book is filled with lively rhyming text by the award-winning poet Tony Mitton that perfectly complements Ant Parker's bold, bright illustrat
52

New Jersey Central's Blue Comet

Anthony Puzzilla

4.1
The legendary Blue Comet train no longer streaks through the pines of New Jersey. However, its memory still lives on through timeless images and the sustained efforts of historical societies and preservation organizations.


The Garden State's Blue Comet passenger train service operated from 1929 to 1941, on a route from the New York metropolitan area to Atlantic City. Despite the backdrop of the Gre
53

God's Submarines: Go below the waves of stress, anxiety and heartbreak using these simple tools to deepen your relationship with God.

Timothy Jemly

4.1
54

Dust On The Sea

Edward Latimer Beach

4.1
55

Poseidon's Arrow (Dirk Pitt, #22)

Clive Cussler, Dirk Cussler, Scott Brick

4.1
“Dirk Pitt is oceanography’s answer to Indiana Jones,” praises the Associated Press. “Exotic locations, ruthless villains and many narrow escapes—Cussler’s fans come for swashbuckling [and] he delivers.”

And now the Cusslers bring us Pitt’s most dangerous adventure of all...

It is the greatest advance in American defense technology in decades — an attack submarine capable of incredible underwater sp
56

United States and Allied Submarine Successes in the Pacific and Far East During World War II, 4th Ed.

John D. Alden, Craig R. McDonald, et al.

4.1
Here is a comprehensive accounting of all United States and allied submarine attacks on the Japanese for which success was claimed or occurred. The expanded coverage focuses on successes by U.S. and British and Dutch submarines in the Pacific and Indian oceans, Soviet submarines, and losses caused by mines laid by submarines. The book also includes details from top-secret "Ultra" messages decoded
57

Steel Boat Iron Hearts: A U-boat Crewman's Life Aboard U-505

Hans Goebeler and John Vanz

4.1
Hans Goebeler is known as the man who “pulled the plug” on U-505 in 1944 to keep his beloved U-boat out of Allied hands. ‘Steel Boat, Iron Hearts’ is his no-holds-barred account of service aboard a combat U-boat. It is the only full-length memoir of its kind, and Goebeler was aboard for every one of U-505’s war patrols.
58

The German Navy At War: Vol. Ii The U Boat (German Navy At War, 1935 1945)

Gerhard Koop

4.1
Covers the ships, commanders, harbors, bases, uniforms and insignia of the U-Boot Waffe in over 270 photos.
59

Rising Tide

Gary E. Weir, Walter J. Boyne

4.1
For devotees of the submarine espionage stories in Blind Man's Bluff, Rising Tide tells the Soviet/Russian side of the most secretive operations of the Cold War. For the first time, seven Soviet admirals, along with leading naval historian Dr. Gary Weir, reveal the successful spying missions, the technological breakthroughs, the confrontations with U.S. forces, and the undersea disasters that kill
60

War Beneath the Waves: A True Story of Courage and Leadership Aboard a World War II Submarine

Don Keith

4.1
The gripping story of heroism under the sea, from the national bestselling author of Final Patrol & U.S.S. Billfish

In November 1943, while on war patrol in the Makassar Strait, the U.S.S. Billfish submarine was spotted by the Japanese, who launched a vicious depth charge attack. Explosions wracked the sub for fifteen straight hours. With senior officers incapacitated, diving officer Charlie Rush
61

Miracles on the Water: The Heroic Survivors of a World War II U-Boat Attack

Tom Nagorski

4.1
An unforgettable story of children in wartime, of heroism at sea, and--above all--of courage and the power of the human spirit.

On September 17, 1940, at a little after ten at night, a German submarine torpedoed the passenger liner S.S. City of Benares in the North Atlantic. There were 406 people on board, but the ship's prized passengers were 90 children whose parents had elected to send their boy
62

Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942

Clay Blair

4.1
"His monumental work...is the most thorough study of the U-boat campaign available." --Library Journal

Hitler's U-boat War is an epic sea story about the most arduous and prolonged naval battle in history. For a period of nearly six years, the German U-boat force attempted to blockade and isolate the British Isles in hopes of forcing the British out of the war, thereby thwarting both the Allied str
63

Flood Tide (Dirk Pitt, #14)

Clive Cussler

4.1
Following the runaway success of his first nonfiction book, The Sea Hunters, Clive Cussler returns with his legendary fictional hero Dirk Pitt" - in a masterfully crafted tale of villainy on the high seas and the Mississippi River that can only enhance his status as the grand master of adventure fiction.

The coin of the realm for the wealthy, insatiably greedy Chinese smuggler who is Dirk Pitt's a
64

Dangerous Ground (Jerry Mitchell, #1)

Larry Bond

4.1
The US submarine Memphis should have been mothballed decades ago. Instead, she is charged with one last, secret mission: to locate leaking containers of Russian nuclear fuel on the floor of the Arctic Ocean. More than just an environmental nightmare, this radioactive burial ground houses enough nuclear capability to destroy most of America’s major cities.

Lead by the Bligh-like commander Lowell Ha
65

Scorpion Down: Sunk by the Soviets, Buried by the Pentagon: The Untold Story Ofthe USS Scorpion

Ed Offley

4.1
One Navy admiral called it “one of the greatest unsolved sea mysteries of our era.” The U.S. Navy officially describes it an inexplicable accident. For decades, the real story of the disaster eluded journalists, historians, and the family members of the lost crew. But a small handful of Navy and government officials knew the truth: The sinking of the U.S.S. Scorpion on May 22, 1968, was an act of
66

Take Her Deep!: A Submarine Against Japan in World War II

I. J. Galantin, I. J. Galatin

4.1
67

Final Harbor (The Silent War, #1)

Harry Homewood, Corey M. Snow, et al

4.1
68

Hostile Waters

Peter Huchthuasen, Igor Kurdin, R. Alan White

4.1
As the Cold War drew to a close, a Soviet submarine armed with fifteen nuclear missiles suffered a crippling accident, coming within moments of an apocalyptic meltdown that could have devastated the eastern seaboard of the United States. Although our own government-all the way up to the White House-was fully aware of the potential for disaster, they buried the facts, deciding to protect the Americ
69

The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester

Barbara O'Connor

4.1

Owen Jester wishes his family hadn’t moved to his grandfather’s house after his dad lost his job. For one thing, his grandfather’s live-in nurse sure knows how to ruin anyone’s idea of a good time. And then there’s Viola, the girl next door, who can’t ever mind her own business. She even thinks Owen should put his freshly captured bullfrog back into the pond. Then late one night, Owen hears a cur

70

Dive! World War II Stories of Sailors Submarines in the Pacific: The Incredible Story of U.S. Submarines in WWII

Deborah Hopkinson

4.1
Dive! World War II Stories of Sailors & Submarines in the Pacific tells the incredible story of America's little known "war within a war" -- US submarine warfare during World War II.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US entered World War II in December 1941 with only 44 Naval submarines -- many of them dating from the 1920s. With the Pacific battleship fleet decimated after Pearl Harbor, it
71

The Trident Deception (Trident Deception #1)

Rick Campbell

4.1
"The best submarine novel since Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October." -Booklist (starred review)
The USS Kentucky-a Trident ballistic missile submarine carrying a full complement of 192 nuclear warheads-is about to go on a routine patrol. Not long after it reaches the open sea, however, the Kentucky receives a launch order. After receiving that launch order, it is cut off from all counter-order
72

Through Hell and Deep Water

Hans Christian Adamson, Charles A. Lockwood

4.1
Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War book cover73

Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War

Mary Roach

4.1
Grunt tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries—panic, exhaustion, heat, noise—and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them. Mary Roach dodges hostile fire with the U.S. Marine Corps Paintball Team as part of a study on hearing loss and survivability in combat. She visits the fashion design studio of U.S. Army Natick Labs and learns why a zipper is
74

The Battle of the Atlantic: How the Allies Won the War

Jonathan Dimbleby

4.1
The Battle of the Atlantic was -- though often overlooked -- crucial to the Allied victory. If the German U-boats had prevailed, the maritime artery across the Atlantic would have been severed. Mass hunger would have consumed Britain, and the Allied armies would have been prevented from joining in the invasion of Europe. There would have been no D-Day. Through fascinating contemporary diaries and
75

Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of the K-129

Norman Polmar, Michael White

4.0
On July 21st, 1974, despite incredible risks, and after years of secret preparations, the CIA attempted to salvage the sunken Soviet ballistic missle submarine K-129 from the depths of the North Pacific Ocean. 'Azorian' was the code name for the most ambitious ocean engineering endeavour ever. This book explores the project.
U-505: The Lone Wolf of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry book cover76

U-505: The Lone Wolf of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry

James E. Wise Jr.

4.0
77

Ghosts of Bungo Suido (World War II Navy, #2)

P. T. Deuterman

4.0
A thrilling WWII adventure set in a submarine in the Pacific, by the Boyd Award-winning author of Pacific Glory
In late 1944, America's naval forces face what seems an insurmountable threat from Japan: immense Yamato-class battleships, which dwarf every other ship at sea. Built in secrecy, these ships seem invincible, and lay waste to any challengers. American military intelligence knows of two s
78

Unrestricted Warfare: How a New Breed of Officers Led the Submarine Force to Victory in World War II

James F. DeRose

4.0
Unrestricted Warfare reveals the dramatic story of the harsh baptism by fire faced by U.S. submarine commanders in World War II. The first skippers went to battle hamstrung by conservative peacetime training and plagued by defective torpedoes. Drawing extensively from now declassified files, Japanese archives, and the testimony of surviving veterans, James DeRose has written a fascinating account
79

Silent Steel: The Mysterious Death of the Nuclear Attack Sub USS Scorpion

Stephen Johnson

4.0
Praise for Silent Steel

"The magnitude of the tragedy of the USS Scorpion is matched only by the depth of the mystery surrounding her loss. Stephen Johnson has done a remarkable job of shining new light on this dark moment in U.S. submarine history."
--Sherry Sontag, coauthor of Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage

"What happened to the USS Scorpion? The question has
80

Tidal Rip (Jeffrey Fuller, #4)

Joe Buff

4.0
A new world war has begun. It is the year 2012, and extremists in Germany and South Africa have succeeded in staging simultaneous coups to forge the Berlin-Boer Axis, a cabal determined to take over the world. The key instrument of this war is tactical nuclear weaponry, where a single torpedo or cruise missile can destroy an entire ship or city. And while the war will be fought with high-tech weap
81

Undetected

Dee Henderson

4.0
When asked what he does for a living, Commander Mark Bishop is deliberately low-key: "I'm in the navy."

But commanding the ballistic missile submarine USS Nevada, keeping its crew trained and focused during 90-day submerged patrols, and being prepared to launch weapons on valid presidential orders, carries a burden of command like few other jobs in the military. Mark Bishop is a man who accepts tha
Coming Back Alive: The True Story of the Most Harrowing Search and Rescue Mission Ever Attempted on Alaska's High Seas book cover82

Coming Back Alive: The True Story of the Most Harrowing Search and Rescue Mission Ever Attempted on Alaska's High Seas

Spike Walker

4.0
83

Operation Drumbeat: Germany's U-Boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II

Michael Gannon

4.0
The dramatic national bestseller and remarkably exciting account of Germany's little-known U-boat campaign against merchant shipping along the North American Atlantic coast during the first six months of 1942.
84

Teddy Suhren, Ace of Aces: Memoirs of a U-Boat Rebel

Teddy Shure

4.0
85

Salt and Steel: Reflections of a Submariner

Edward L. Beach Jr.

4.0
86

Hellcats: The Epic Story of World War II's Most Daring Submarine Raid

Peter Sasgen

4.0
"Sasgen vividly recounts the pulsating drama of the Hellcats." - Naval History In 1945, American sub force commanders believed that if the Japanese merchant fleet was sunk, the enemy would be forced to surrender. The problem: the ships were protected in the Sea of Japan by a barrier of deadly minefields.

Here, Peter Sasgen tells the gripping story of Operation Barney, a daunting mission in which ni
87

Dark Waters: An Insider's Account of the NR-1, The Cold War's Undercover Nuclear Sub

Lee Vyborny, Don Davis

4.0
88

World War II Shipbuilding in Duluth and Superior

Gerald Sandvick

4.0
World War II hinged on the Allies having enough ships to both fight the enemy and to carry millions of tons of war goods across the world's oceans. Shipyards on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific Coasts built thousands of vessels, but America's sometimes forgotten Fourth Coast, the Great Lakes, built hundreds of ships as well. From 1940 to 1945, warships, cargo haulers, Coast Guard tenders, and fleet
89

Submarine

Joe Dunthorne

4.0
At once a self-styled social scientist, a spy in the baffling adult world, and a budding, hormone-driven emotional explorer, Oliver Tate is stealthily nosing his way forward through the murky and uniquely perilous waters of adolescence. His objectives? Uncovering the secrets behind his parents’ teetering marriage, unraveling the mystery that is his alluring and equally quirky classmate Jordana Bev
90

Sea Wolves: The Extraordinary Story of Britain's Ww2 Submarines

Tim Clayton

4.0
'Sea Wolves' is the story of the crews who bravely manned British submarines in the Second World War. This small band of highly trained and highly skilled individuals fought in the front line for six long years, undertaking some of the most dangerous missions of the war.
91

Hellcats of the Sea (Annotated): Operation Barney and the Mission to the Sea of Japan

Charles A. Lockwood and Hans C. Adamso

4.0
Author Charles Lockwood (Sink 'Em All) brings his unique flair for submarine warfare story-telling to his account of Operation Barney, the secret mission during World War 2 to extend the conflict in the Pacific beyond the Sea of Japan and closer to the enemy's coastline. On June 9, 1945, torpedoes from nine American submarines - 'The Hellcats' - were launched at dozens of Japanese freighters, para
92

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Jules Verne, Dan Andreasen, Arthur Pober Ed.D, Lisa Church

4.0
93

The Kaiser's Lost Kreuzer: A History of U-156 and Germany's Long-Range Submarine Campaign Against North America, 1918

Paul N. Hodos

4.0
In the final year of World War I, Germany made its first attempt to wage submarine warfare off faraway shores. Large, long-range U-boats (short for unterseeboot or "undersea boat") attacked Allied shipping off the coasts of the U.S., Canada and West Africa in a desperate campaign to sidestep and scatter the lethal U-boat defenses in European waters. Commissioned in 1917, U-156 raided commerce, tra
94

The Submarine: A History

Tom Parrish

4.0
For centuries people dreamed of navigating under the sea, but it was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that inventors succeeded in developing practical submarines. With the coming of World War I, nations saw something entirely new in war: the deadly effectiveness of underwater craft, with German U-boats threatening to starve Britain and bringing the United States into the war, thus
Barons of the Sea: And Their Race to Build the World's Fastest Clipper Ship book cover95

Barons of the Sea: And Their Race to Build the World's Fastest Clipper Ship

Steven Ujifusa

4.0
On Her Majesty's Nuclear Service book cover96

On Her Majesty's Nuclear Service

Eric Thompson

4.0
97

Nautilus 90 North

William R. Anderson, Clay Blair

4.0
Fighting Under the Sea: The History of Submarine Warfare From Its Inception to the End of World War Two (The Evolution of Nav book cover98

Fighting Under the Sea: The History of Submarine Warfare From Its Inception to the End of World War Two (The Evolution of Nav

Donald Macintyre

4.0
99

Cold Choices (Jerry Mitchell, #2)

Larry Bond, Dick Hill

4.0
Navy pilot turned submarine officer Jerry Mitchell is now the navigator aboard USS Seawolf. On a reconnaissance mission deep in the Barents Sea, Mitchell and his crew prepare to watch the Russian navy as it trains for battle. Although they are outside Russia’s territorial waters, the U.S. boat is ambushed by Russia’s newest attack submarine, Severodvinsk. Its aggressive new captain, Aleksey Petrov
The Naval Institute Guide to Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet book cover100

The Naval Institute Guide to Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet

Norman Polmar

4.0